Powder puff



Aug. 23, 1932. QUlNN 1,873,030

POWDER PUFF Filed Dec. 26, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 $134244; awe Mau Patented Aug. 23, 1932 NHT T Ar Nr I Bowman PUFF I Application filed December 26, 1930. ,Seria1 No. 504,729.

This invention relates to powder puffs and has for its object to provide a sanitary, inexpensive pufi' capable of carrying a substan- 7 10, puff, and among these may be mentioned the necessity for a soft powder carrying face with soft edges which are free ofstitches, adhesive or other material which is apt to scratch the face. The ideal puff should be so inexpensive as to allow its being used and then discarded. Heretofore various types of papers have been suggested but such mate'- rials are open to the objection of either not carrying enough powder or beingtoo stifi. Another requirement is that while cheapit should nevertheless be capable of much longer use should the occasion demand as i n general shape indicated and 1s provided on V where the supply has been nearly exhausted away from a source of supply. Generally. a pufi is desired to have enough body or stiifness so that it will liefiat when not in use. As the vanity cases today are made quite thin and compact a powder puff that is adapted for use and carriage within sucha case must also be quite thin. In addition to the ability of a puff to carry the desired charge of powder must be mentioned the ability to release or give up such charge of powder preferably on merely a wiping operation and without the necessity ofpatting since the latter is liable to spread excess powder over the clothes.

Another reason for this last requirement is encountered with puffs which are inexpensive enough to be used and then discarded, because when discarding a puff it is preferred that no more powder be thrown away with the puff than is necessary. For this reason a puff which does not become readily impregnated with powder and which carries the desired charge on the surface whereit may be released merely by wiping operations, will if it meets the other requirements mentioned constitute a much desired powder puff. I The present invention satisfies all the foregoing fore been possible.

powderpuif of compressed absorbent cotton preferably having its back stiffened by a coating of starch or other materialwhich if it JOHN J. QUINN, or SGARSDALE, NEwfYonK, ASSIGNOR .TO PINAUD, me, on NEW YoIiK,

' N. Y.,'A CORPQBATION OFVNJ'EW YORK e requirements more closely than has hereto- Specifically "this invention contemplates a works loose will not prove harmful to the face. While there have been prior art suggestions for the use of absorbent cotton pow-- der puffsin several ways, these have all fallen short of meeting the foregoing requirements.

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 shows a rear viewof one embodiment of this invention. v f F 1EfFig. 2 is a section on the line;22"0f 3 is a face view of the puff shown in Figs. 1 and 2.- s 1 I 7 'Fig. 4 is a. graphicalcomparison between the puff of'this invention and other commonly used powder puffs of the same size. The powder. puffilO in Fig. 1 is of the a. greater extent. The face'11lis of soft material well adapted to'the foregoing requirements of a powder'p'uff. .In practice the ab sorbent cotton constituting this puff is compressed toabout the thickness of an orditho sometinies thinner. I V r To form this pull a number of layers, in the present instance, seven layers, ofwell carded cotton are taken and compressed in sheets between rollers to aboutthe thickness desired in view of the compression later. The sheets are then'coated on one side with a liquid stiffening material such as starch and the'like. The coated material isthen passed between finishing rolls oneof which has a surface adapted togive the longitudinal and lateral impression 13 in the stiffened back. These impressions serve to better bindthe nary blotter, more frequently slightly thicker series of squares, it will nevertheless be understood that the same: function may be attained by the repetition of a series'of letters or words indicating the maker or seller ofv the powder puff." WVhile in sheet form and preferably before the starch material has dried the puffs may be cut out of the sheet to desired size by stamping Preferably-the stamping" die is provided with. aproj ectilon inwardly of the cutting edgeso shaped as to substantially compress the border portion 14: to a; much greater extent' than the body portion of the pufi has been compressed; Flhi's" compressed border 14: serves the useful-purpose of prolonging the life of the pufii'by re- I ducing the tendency for the fibersto slide; off

or move over the edge ofthe puff either laterallyor longitudinally durinnguse. de-

' sired the compressed border portions Mean be: formed while'the material iskin sheet form and. prior to the stampingout operation.

In order tomake the comparison. between the compressed cotton ,pufi ofthis' invention "and other commonly used puifsethere were provided p ufis of.eiderdown, sheepskin, cottonzvelvet, wool velvet compressed cotton 'of' this invention, all of the samesizenam-ely, 2 .x 2 centimeters 1 For each milligrams-ofthesanne kiindofspowder was weighed ontrand placed 'lEl-l a depression sisal face similar to the wiping surface of those vanity cases whose "wiping or discharge surface is separated or closed from the: main 7 body portion of :the powder withsinthe vanity case. The measured amount of powder'was the puff in use.

then taken u p by each'pufl'inia mannersimi lartto the way in whichzpei'wcleristaken up on skin (in each case t'hesame skin')'-imti;lno

' isthe end of what inFig. 1- is called thefirst .4 ssho'ws thwt'the powder further powder was discharged from the puiihtheskinbei ng wiped with a towel after each stroke of :a puif so as to be able to tell whenno more powder was -discharg'ed. This application :and Fig; puff of this invention. discharged the; greatest 3 sarneunt of powder and had the least amount of powder remaining on the. puff, there being 13 milligrams of powder disehargedra nd 12 remaining absorbed by the puff-with the puff of this invention while the next bestpuff namely the wool velvet had. 16 milligrams of powder left on the puff after this first application. The next best was 1 the cotton velvet which had 17 milligrams of powder left on the pufl while the eiderdown and sheepskin were equally poorzin discharging only dunilligrains, there being 21milligra1ns left en each puff. Frornthis much of the comparison it will be seen'that-thepuff of this invention is much superior to ofthe 1 prior art puffs insofar as theyare adapted to be used only once and then thrown away be:

P cause after the first application-of powder the puff :O f 'thlS invention discharged 527% of the quantity ofpowderit took up while Each puff containing the powder was then gentlywiped on a smooth centage of powder after a similar applica- ""tion" of' powder-to the "puff but the pufi of this invention costs roughly about 1/30 the cost. of the other pufi's, which are all relatively expensive by comparison. H

r Fig. 4 :al-soshows that with asecond application of powder a pufl' of this'invention stilt retaineditS lead ore-rthe others LFor this: second-application another -25 grams of powder was weighed out and taken 'upaby each vpuii' in theasame mannerhsbia fore. "the powder discharged each puf'f by a wiping operation in thesame man? ner as before. The powder applications 1 were successively continued with; the: dis

charges until the curve for each material in f ig; 4 became substantially flat which cates that the psufli'became substantially saturated'because adapt-edtotake up and gi-ve out w the same amount offpowderby a wipingiap eration. While'the wool velvet pu'fl? became slightly more efiieient after-the thi rdapplicaition of powder than the puff of this invention,

the diiierencebetween thetwo fromethes-tand point of efficiency would be insignificant were it not for thetremendous,difference in price-of thewool velvet puffsnd the pufi-of this inventions r V of thispu-fi to be used only once or more anel but also the ability of this pufi to delivers greater percentage of the powder taken up after one-or two applicationsthanis anyother puff known. The reluctance to absorb er retain: powder not only means economy in powder where pufis are to be used then discardedybut this feature is also of importencein those'newer vanity cases which have the powder discharge or wiping surface .kept clean and free of'powder and separated from the-body-of powder in the vanitycase because where the puff-[contains less powderafter being used "there will be less likelihood of any powder. retained by the pufi being dis? charged upon the wiping surfaceof thevanity Among the advantages of. this inventiaan v may be mentioned. the superlative excellence Luis case whereby such surface maybe given better insurance that it will be free of powder when the puff of this invention is used; :Ano'th'er feature of this invention comprises stifi ened integral back whereby no adhesive or other hard edges are formed and even if starch works looseiromtherback into the powder suchwill be harmless to the face 1-because starch-is one ofthe constituents-of some :facepowders. Another advantageous {feathen be thrown away. It issnotthe cost alone 5 border there wouldbe greater danger of some Q of the fibers bodily shifting or moving off and over the edge of the puff with use. Therefore this border contributes to lengthen the life of this puff where such is necessary. 7

Other advantageous features include the low cost to the puff of this invention and its soft face, soft edges, the safe and inexpensive back stiffening, and the adaptability of the present putt for carriage in the modern thin and compact vanity cases. This pufi may be sterilized and separately packed in r envelopes of glassine paper and the like and sold in quantities at a price to make possible their being used only once or oftener if desired and then discarded. Such extreme sanitary precautions would not be warranted with the older types of vanity cases where either the soiled puff of powder released from the soiled puff was brought in contact with and therefore free to contaminate the main body portion of powder carried by the vanity case. A full scientific explanation of the reasons for the better efficiency of the puff of this invention over those of the prior art referred to is not clearly understood. Acontributing cause may be that the fibers in this new pufl' are generally parallel to each other and to the face of the puff throughout the main body portion if not on the face. The other puffs analyzed have their fibers mostly normal to the face of the pufi although some have their fibers at various inclinations to the face of the puff, the eiderdown for example being principally fine feathers arranged at a variety of angles. On taking up powder the pufi of this invention appears to carryit.

more on the outside than on the inside of its face.

I claim:

1. A powder puff having a soft fibrous face adapted to carry powder, edges which are substantially equally soft and a stiffened back of the same material as the face.

2. A compressed fibrous powder puff having a soft face and a back of stifiened face material. r

3. A compressed absorbent cotton powder puff having a soft face and a back of stiffened face material.

4. A compressed fibrous powder puff hav-- ing a soft face with the fibers in the body of the puff arranged substantially parallel with side of said facepedgeswhich are substantially as soft as the face, and a stiffened back of the same material as the face and edges.

6. A compressed fibrous powder puff having a soft face withthe fibers in the body of the puff arranged substantially parallel with respect to'e achother and tothe face of the puff and adapted when unimpregnated with powder to carry a substantial quantity of powder largely on the surface of said-soft face and readily release duringawiping operation a substantiallylarger percentage of the powder wiped up and carriedas a first charge in. use than any other puff.

7 A compressed fibrous powder puff having a soft face with the fibers in the bodyof the pufi arranged substantially parallel with respect to each other and to the face of the puff and adapted when unimpregnated with powder to carry a substantial quantity of powder largely on the surface of said soft face and readily release during a wiping operation a substantially larger percentage of the powder wiped up and carried as a first charge in use than any-puff havingits face fibers extending substantially normally or angularly to the plane of such face, such as a puff of wool velvet, cotton velvet, sheepskin,-

eiderdown, or the like.

8. A powder puif thin enough for embodiment in a vanity case'and being entirely of compressed absorbent cotton having one side stiffer than the other. e

9. A compressed fibrous powder puff having a soft face with the fibers in the body of the puff arranged substantially parallel with respect to each other and to the face of the pufi and being compressed to a substantially greater degree adj acent'an edge portion than in the body of the puff, toreduce the tendency of the fibers to slide over the edge in wiping. 10. A powder pufl' of compressed absorbent cotton having the fibers adjacent an edge portion compressed to a substantially greater degree than are the fibers of the body portion of the puff.

11. A powder puff of compressed absorbent cotton having the fibers adjacent an edge portion compressed to asubstantially greater degree than are the fibers of the body portion of the puff, the fibers which have been compressed to the greatest extent being inwardly of the edges which are compressed to no greater degree than are the fibersin the main body portion of the puff. Y

cotton having its back coated with a stiffening material and imprinted with lines extend- 13. A powder puff of compressed absorbent.

cotton having its back coated with a stiffening material and imprinted with lines extending longitudinally and laterally of the 12. A powder puff of compressed absorbent his fiibgs bhrmrghnut the zwifiene'd back to bind v the fibers, and a has been pressecto a greater extenzt'dzhan the body of Anompre'ssed fibrous powder pufi-hmiin 'g a $018: face and :a back iefrstiffehed i face -mii,t6Ti&1 "fl16-TbaOk of said puff ibeingstifiened iby contactw'ith a' liq uidmaaterial which ifit 7 works loose when dry wiH-not irritate the 1- skin, and which material hasibeen used as a -cgnstltuent0f some facts powders. V j Witrmss 'wheneofIlmwehereuntb set my hand this :QBrd' day (if December, 1930.

I JOHNJ. QUINNL 

